Playing Hookie
by Spazzfreeks
Summary: Artemis and Kaldur play hookie from the Team's latest mission to spend a little quality time together. Two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Playing Hookie

Pairing: SeaArrow (Kaldur and Artemis)

Summary: Artemis and Kaldur play hookie from the Team's latest mission to spend a little quality time together.

[a/n]: I hope you like it!

"Aqualad is on a mission with Aquaman" Batman said all too quickly.

Kaldur glanced around him anxiously, surveying alley where the Zetabeam Teleporter stood hidden in the shadows.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" He questioned the tall figure beside him. The blond looked onwards, arms crossed over chest, staring up at the bright, blue sky above them appreciatively.

"Come now, Kaldur'ahm. You can't tell me you're _scared_" The alluring voice remarked teasingly. The blonde turned to face him, allowing the light to hit her face just right so her brown eyes with slight blue accents shone remarkably.

"Ditching a team mission for a date? Lying to the Dark Knight of Gotham? How could I _possibly_ be _scared_?" Kaldur replied with equal sarcasm.

His blonde date smirked at him. "I know, how can you be scared when you should be excited!" Artemis lunged forward, wrapping her lean arms around Kaldur's tattooed arms. Of course, his tattoos weren't visible from underneath the heavy jacket, but Artemis knew they were there. She traced her finger along the Atlantean ink lines through the jacket, smiling to herself as she easily recalled the smooth curve of each eel-like image.

Kaldur leaned into the touch slightly, sighing to himself. "You mean I should be appreciating the adrenaline rushing through my bloodstream?" He brushed his webbed fingers through Artemis's bushy ponytail.

"Exactly." She practically purred.

"Then, by all means, I shall do so. What did you have planned for today?" Kaldur asked as Artemis continued to cling to his arm. They walked out of the alley together joining the stream of people flowing through the city they'd found themselves in.

"I was thinking we could try to continue your Surface-dweller education." Artemis stated lightly.

"How so?" Kaldur questioned, his curiosity gradually rising.

"Well, how else? With a tour!" Artemis stopped just as she said that in front of a bus stop. Only two or three other people waited with them. Kaldur looked around inquiringly.

"A tour of a bus stop?"

"No, Kal, see this is why we're doing this. You've never been on a bus tour before."

"We're touring a bus? I've been on buses before Artemis-" But his blonde girlfriend held her finger to his Atlantean lips, shushing him, and pointed to a red vehicle approaching through the traffic.

"Just wait and see. I promise you'll like it." She said as the red, double decker bus pulled to a stop in front of them. Eagerly, Artemis pulled Kaldur along with her, quickly showing the driver their tickets, and pushed the hesitant not-sidekick up the stairs to the top floor.

"Artemis," Kaldur hissed under his breath urgently as she walked them towards the front where the tour guide stood patiently waiting for everyone to be seated, "Should buses really have _stairs_. Are you sure this is safe?"

The archer let out a quick laugh before stifling it to answer her boyfriend's question, "Yes, Kal, it's fine." She rolled her colorful eyes, and planted herself on the aisle side of the cushioned bench at the front, right beside the tour guide. Smiling invitingly, she patted the seat beside her, the window seat, "Just sit down or we can't get going."

Kaldur obeyed, sitting there with awkward stiffness, his eyes darting back and forth between the people bellow, the young tour guide who he'd seen eye Artemis slightly, and the bus in general. When the red monstrosity of an automobile lurched forward, the Atlantean nearly panicked, clutching the edge of the seat with on hand and Artemis's arm with the other.

"It's _fine_, Kal." Arty whispered reassuringly, calmly placing her hand over Kaldur's and squeezing it gently.

"Why did we have to sit up front?" Kaldur insisted, relaxing ever so slightly at his girlfriend's touch.

Artemis waved her hand out in front of her exaggeratedly, declaring, "Best view!"

After that, the tour guide stood up with a big, toothy smile and placed his microphone headset on. "Good morning, can everyone hear me? Yeah? Cool, I'm Kyle and I'll be your tour guide today. Welcome to the Chicago City Tour. Remember you can hop off anytime you want, and hop right back on at any one of our specially marked bus stops. Okay, let's get started!"

Some forty to fifty minutes later the bus came to another stop and Artemis hurriedly grabbed Kaldur's arm and raced down the stairs and out the bus, laughing as the Atlantean stumbled over his hardly ever worn shoes. "Come on, Kaldur! We're going to miss it," She laughed delightedly as they raced away from the bus towards the Chicago River. Kaldur finally picked up his speed so they raced down the street together, Artemis navigating down stairs and along busy sidewalks, when they finally came to a stop at a rather secluded dock.

The blonde bounced on the heels of her feet excitedly as she looked up and down the river. She glanced down at her arm, pulling up her leather jacket's sleeve to reveal a green watch, "Looks like we made it on time. It'll be here any minute."

"What will be here any minute?" Kaldur finally asked, ever the patient one.

"Oh you'll see." Arty chirped secretively.

"But, was it necessary to exit the tour so quickly?" Kaldur nearly let a pout form across his full lips, but stopped himself before he did so. Though, Artemis could hear the pout just from Kaldur's sultry voice. She laughed, resting her hand on his shoulder.

"See? I knew you'd like it. Very educational. Very your thing. So you had fun right? On your first double decker bus ride?" Arty smirked over at her leader. Though, right now she couldn't really see him as anything but her amazing boyfriend who'd agreed to ditch a mission for a day with her. She watched the water from the river reflect slightly against his smooth, dark skin with hooded eyes.

Kaldur noticed the look and blushed slightly, "It was... it was enjoyable, thank you."

Artemis wrapped her arms around Kaldurs, kissing his cheek. It was all the "your welcome" Kaldur needed.

Soon the boat arrived and Kaldur chivalrously helped Artemis onto the boat. They chose a seat where the sun could shine on them and they could easily see the water of the river flowing around the boat. They looked up at the beautiful buildings towering above their heads. The magnificent lines of the steel and marble and the reflection of the dark windows took their breath away. Kaldur felt as he did the first time he saw a surface world city.

"Welcome to the Chicago City Architecture Tour, I will be your guide today-"

The lull of the rocking boat calmed the couple as they observed the Chicago buildings with intrigue. Artemis rested her head against Kaldur's strong shoulder with a peaceful smirk on her lips. Kaldur kissed the top of her head before wrapping his arm around Artemis's waist.

"You know," Arty whispered as they slowly passed a particularly ornate building, "There's this chocolate factory that makes the entire downtown smell like chocolate."

Kaldur raised his eyebrows at that, chuckling in disbelief, "Truly? Remarkable..." he hugged Artemis closer to him, mumbling, "You sure know a lot about this city."

"Err... yeah." Artemis blushed. "I just like Chicago even if its go that whole mobster reputation from the twenties... um," She gazed down at the water but pressed closer to Kaldur, "And I sort of did a lot of research on this place. To make sure this date went well..."

"Really?" Kaldur asked, not quite astonished because it wasn't as though Artemis had never done anything nice for him.

"Yeah..." Artemis's blush deepened, her cheeks growing warm and gaining a decidedly rosy color.

Kaldur kissed the top of Artemis's head appreciatively. It was all the "thank you" the Artemis needed. She moved closer still, stretching up and cupping Kaldur's cheek with her hand. Artemis tenderly pressed her lips to Kaldur's, wrapping her free hand around his neck (covered with a turtleneck so to not show off the gills). Kaldur leaned into the kiss that was all the "your welcome" he needed.

After the boat ride finished, they held hands as they strolled through downtown Chicago. Even in the late fall chill, even with Kaldur having to wear shoes, even with Artemis's stomach growling slightly from hunger, the couple felt contentedly comfortable.

Suddenly, Kaldur halted, causing Artemis to stumble backwards slightly. She turned curiously, rubbing her thumb against the back of Kaldur's dark hand. With a knowing smirk spreading across her face, she watched as her astonished boyfriend sniffed at the cold air.

"It... it smells of chocolate!" He exclaimed under his breath. With a brief laugh, Arty nodded and hugged Kaldur's arm.

"Told you." she whispered alluringly in his ear as they continued walking back towards the Zeta tube.

As they reached the carefully hidden teleporter, the archer turned to her boyfriend. Her brown w/ hints of blue eyes trained on Kaldur, she inquired, "How did you like your day of Surface-dweller education?"

Kaldur chuckled slightly, "Oh it was _very_ educational. Thank you, Artemis. I had fun."

Artemis wrapped her arms around Kaldur's neck, "So," she smirked, her eyes hooded and body pressed to his, "Was that worth playing hookie from the team?"

"Indeed. I might have to lie to Batman more often if it means more dates like this." Kaldur let his hands rest on the small of Arty's back as he savored the feeling of her breath ghosting his skin.

"My dear Kaldur, this is only the _first_ part of our date." Artemis grinned cheekily.

Cocking an eyebrow, Kaldur asked, "Then what is the second part?"

"Oh, you'll see." Artemis whispered in her sultry, cocky voice, slipping from Kaldur's arms and turning to the zetatube. She punched in the coordinates and offered out her hand for Kaldur to take. "Coming?" her lips just couldn't help pulling into her signature smirk.

With a contented smile, Kaldur followed his blonde, tanned beauty into the teleporter, not even thinking about what Batman will do once he finds out Kaldur had lied about a mission with Aquaman. Because, trust me, Batman would find out (if he didn't already know.) Yet, neither Artemis nor Kaldur cared at the moment.

[a/n]: I'm thinking of making this a two-parter rather than just leaving the ending to the readers' imagination... I already have the second half of the date planned out anyway. If I get enough reviews I'll write the second part.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Playing Hookie Part 2

Pairing: SeaArrow (Kaldur and Artemis)

Summary: Artemis and Kaldur play hookie from the Team's latest mission to spend a little quality time together.

[a/n]: I hope you like it! Thank you for reading!

Stars shone overhead when the light from the Zetatube dissipated. Kaldur wrapped a protective arm around Artemis, wearily surveying the area. A cresent moon along with some distant streetlights allowed the Atlantean enough light to see perfectly (honestly he needed almost no light to see, it was a handy tool when you lived miles upon miles bellow the sea).

"Kaldur. Relax, remember?" Artemis sighed, slipped from his overly concerned hold. Her mouth remained unsmirking but her glistening eyes taunted him, "Are you going to follow me or do you plan to just stand there?"

Without waiting for an answer, Artemis strode away, her hips swinging as they always did and her boots making light clack sounds against the concrete. Kaldur followed behind her, wondering how it'd gotten so hot and so dark. As if in tune with his thoughts, Artemis peeled off her jacket, slinging it over her shoulder.

He caught up to her, mimicking her action by unzipping his own rather heavy coat. As he did he wondered aloud, "Where are we?"

"Sydney, I think." She responded as she stopped at a large, iron gate surrounded in decorative, sculpted shrubberies.

"And what are we doing in Sydney?" Kaldur asked, looking at the roller coasters, food stands, and waterslides beyond the gate. No lights, aside from the emergency lights along the pathways between attractions and the streetlights could be seen.

"We're making our own fun." Artemis replied with faux innocence, motioning Kaldur to help her up. The Atlantean clasped his webbed hands together, allowing his girlfriend to step into his palms and use the leverage of that to launch herself high into the air. Her blonde ponytail whipping through the air, she did a graceful back flip and landed heavily, but efficiently into the grass behind the fence.

"Are you sure we should be doing this, Arty?" Kaldur questioned. Though he said that, he was already scaling the fence with ease.

"Yeah, no big. I bought tickets to this place online... we're just here a little after hours."

Kaldur raised an eyebrow incredulously. "What?" Artemis demanded, her blush obvious to the Atlantean even in such low light. His girlfriend gripped her elbow embarrassedly and mumbled, "I'm supposed to be a good guy right? I can't just steal stuff... I'm not like that anymore."

"You were never like that Arty," Kaldur pulled her into his arms, speaking his gently understanding voice, "You are very good."

"Thanks, Kal," her whisper was barely audible. They stood there in each other's embrace for a moment, looking into each other's eyes (not that Artemis could see much of anything). Suddenly, she pulled away, motioning towards Kaldur's jacket and shoes, "You can take those off now. I wanted to come here when no one was here so you could just be yourself – no ridiculous wetsuit and flippers and floaties over your hands."

Kaldur gave a soft chuckle, "All this trouble for me," he cooed with his entrancing voice, "You're making me blush... But, Arty, I don't have a swimsuit with me."

"Easily fixable," Artemis turned and walked five feet to the nearest tacky souvenir stand and threw over a pair of floral patterned trunks. Kaldur looked at the hideous things with slight apprehension and then at Artemis who was yanking open the cash register to put money for the shorts in it. He watched for a moment, appreciating Artemis's backwards way of being good. She looked up at him with an eyebrow arching high above her eye, "hmm? Unless, of course, you wanted to go skinny dipping?"

"Err..." Kaldur had to pause and think about that one, but finally he decided not today, "No. No, these are fine, thank you." Artemis smirked at the response and turned to browse through the extremely revealing, over priced bikinis hanging on the rack. Kaldur took the moment to head over to the nearest changing room. He left his shoes and clothes, folded carefully, on some patch of grass. Keeping only his waterbearers slung around his hip, Kaldur returned to Artemis. Apparently, she'd decided it was too much of a hassle to go to the changing rooms because by the time Kaldur returned, she was already in her bikini.

"You look exquisite." Kaldur complimented, taking Artemis's hand, knowing he'd have to be their eyes.

Arty leaned up to kiss Kaldur's cheek, and kicked her clothes to the side, "Ok, where do you want to go? I'm sure we could find the power switch if you wanted to go on some of the waterslides. Or, we could head over to the animals. I know a lot of them don't sleep in their presentation tanks, but I'm sure we could find our way into the dolphin's sleeping tank somehow."

"Indeed. Dolphins though? I'm surprised." Kaldur stated simply as he glanced towards the cheesy, cartoonish signs and lead them towards the aquarium.

"What? Why?" Artemis turned with a dubious expression.

Kaldur shrugged, smirking lightly, "I would have expected your preference to be something a little more dangerous."

Artemis pressed her bare arm closer to Kaldur's, a mischievous smile spreading across her face, "You mean like sharks?" Her tone seemed almost wicked as she laughed delightedly at the idea.

"Does that mean you want to swim with the sharks?" He inquired, already heading in that direction, scanning the area for any sign of an electrical panel or breaker or something of that sort.

"As long as we're swimming with the fishes literally and not figuratively." Arty replied.

"You're always swimming with a fish." Kaldur remarked as he treaded across the dewy grass towards the locked metal box outside one of the many aquarium buildings. "Artemis, you can pick locks right?"

Rolling her eyes, the archer unlatched her hand from Kaldur's and felt around for the lock in front of them. "Light yourself up, Kal, I can't see a thing, and contrary to popular belief, my hair does not act like Robin's utility belt, so I can't pull whatever I want out of it. All I have are hairpins."

Chuckling at that, Kaldur obliged, his arms suddenly lit up like the fourth of July and Artemis used only of the many bobby pins holding up her ponytail to expertly jiggle the lock open. Once done, she flipped a couple switches and that one aquarium building sprung to life with neon lights.

Leading Artemis by the hand, Kaldur stepped into the vast Aquarium space to see some fish swimming sleepily in their tanks and others hiding from the sudden appearance of light. Though they spent a good period looking at the fish, talking about them, or even talking to them (through Kaldur), they eventually made their way to the shark tank.

Amazedly, Artemis pressed her slender hand, calloused from years of using a bow, against the Plexiglas. As she stared up at the gently swerving bodies of the sharks, Kaldur slipped over to the employee's only door near the tank, figuring it would lead to where the caretakers stood when they either fed the sharks or went swimming with them. With a gentle touch to the shoulder and a nod of the head, Kaldur caught Artemis's attention and motioned her to pick the lock.

Silently, the two made their way up the metal stairs, their feet clacking against it, creating an odd echo. Artemis held onto Kaldur's webbed hand, as her breath grew increasingly nervous. Kaldur leaned down quickly (he was a good head taller than Artemis after all) and planted a kiss on her cheek. It was all she needed for reassurance.

They stood above the surface of the water now. Staring through the glittering aqua to the aquarium window, it was surreal. Kaldur motioned the archer to stay, and with a gentle smile, dived smoothly into the shark tank. For a split second before rationality and logic could kick in, Artemis felt her heart squeeze with fear. Her instinct told her leaping head first into a shark tank was a good way to get mauled to death by a shark – even if this was Kaldur she was thinking about. The moment passed as quickly as it came, and soon, Kaldur was petting along the smooth side of one of the long, menacing fish.

He swam to the surface, not taking a large gasp of air like a human would because he wasn't human – he had gills. His smile brightening now, the Atlantean boy held out his dark hand, offering to help his girlfriend into the water. Arty, however, promptly refused. Inhaling deeply, she dove into the water (though with less grace than Kaldur). First, she felt the shock of the low temperature, and second she felt the relief as she realized her bikini was still in place (note: bikini's are really not proper diving wear for obvious reasons). Third, she felt the even cooler touch of smooth skin against her own. She nearly panicked as she saw a shark rubbing against her with almost catlike affection – this didn't help since she wasn't all that big a fan of cats.

Kicking backwards slightly, she glided through the water and found herself in the comforting embrace of her Atlantean boyfriend. She turned in Kaldur's arms to look into his fittingly seafoam green eyes.

This was his element. This was his home. Even when surrounded by sharks, even when in an aquarium in Australia, water was water: and water was home. Artemis had never seen a more loving, content expression on Kaldur's face than the one at that moment.

For Kaldur, he'd never experienced something so intoxicating yet serene as watching Artemis – smooth and fit and tan and gorgeous – floating in water. The long blonde strands of her hair drifted across Arty's face – the water suspending them in a gentle, waving pattern. Her eyes too – for however long she kept them open (she didn't have Atlantean eyes you know) – were gorgeous. Kaldur had never known a human in all his life, other than Artemis, to have brown and blue in one iris or to have the gorgeous lines and color denoting Asian heritage yet have natural, princess-blonde hair.

After a minute of floating in tranquility that to anyone else would've seemed like terrifying madness, considering all the sharks circling them, Artemis tapped Kaldur on the shoulder. Automatically _understanding_ in a confound way that could only be explained through love, Kaldur gave one powerful kick and rocketed them high above the surface.

Artemis gasped for air as humans do after holding their breath for a time Kaldur considered short. They continued to cling to each other as Artemis breathed in deeply, running her hands along his tattoos with a subtle, loving passion. Keeping their heads well above water with slow, steady kicks, Kaldur took on webbed hand off the small of his girlfriend's back and ran his fingers through her hair, savoring the wet feeling.

Leaning in, Artemis's breath left a tickling trail across Kaldur's exposed skin until she paused her lips at his gills. They fluttered open at the tingling feeling before closing immediately against the sudden flow of oxygen. Artemis's lips crawled up Kaldur's neck before reaching his mouth. Their lips pressed together for a drawn out moment. They only separated when they heard the distant ring of police sirens.

For a second, the couple stared into each other's mutually shocked eyes before bursting into laughter. "I guess someone saw us turn on the lights." Artemis laughed as Kaldur helped her out of the aquarium.

"Indeed. Come, Arty, we must retrieve our clothes."

The two of them sprinted from the shark exhibit towards, picking up Kaldur's clothes on the way back to the stand where Artemis had left hers. Together, hand in hand, they ran like Olympic Athletes from the nearing police cars, back towards the Zetabeam Teleporter. They laughed together the whole time.

Almost four days later, when the entire team had regrouped at Mt. Justice. Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy, and Miss Martian all relaxed watching the news with Zatanna, Kaldur, and Artemis.

"In International news, three days ago, there was a break in at a popular aquarium theme park in Sydney, Australia." the news anchor stated before the video feed switched to show a reporter standing in front of the same shark tank Kaldur and Artemis had gone swimming in just a few days prior. The couple shared a knowing look, smirks threatening on their lips.

" Good day, I'm here at the theme park's shark exhibit where the intruders broke into just three days ago. According to the park, no animals have been harmed, but a bikini and a pair of swim trunks were taken from a kiosk stand. The strangest thing is, the cash register as the kiosk had been forced open and held the money the items were worth along with two single-day admissions passes-" The rest of the broadcast was interrupted as Wally turned his head to look quizzically at the pair before dashing off to who knows where.

Robin began snickering, the glasses on his nose shaking from the motion, "What?" Artemis demanded, almost incapable of suppressing her laughter. From the corner of her eye, she saw Kaldur smirking too.

In a flash (pun intended), Wally returned holding up a pair of swim trunks with the Sydney theme park's logo at the bottom of on of the pant legs. He waved it in front of the couple's faces with a sassy gleam in his eye, "Is there something you'd like to tell us~?"

"Well, I guess we know now where Artemis was during our mission..." M'gann mumbled, elbowing Robin in the side as was now custom in among the team if he was laughing too hard.

"Yeah, but where were you Zatanna?" Connor turned his head to look at the short magician girl. Attention pulled away from Kaldur and Artemis as everyone looked at the most recent addition to the team.

The raven-haired girl gave a quick, faux-innocent smile, saying, "Oh, that's a story for another time." She eyed Artemis with a great amount of mischief in her blue eyes, "I'd _much_ rather hear about Kal and Arty's date!"

Kaldur and Artemis shared a mutually embarrassed but smirking glance as the rest of the team agreed.

[a/n: like this? want more stories like this? review!]


End file.
